China adds three sites to IUGS Geological Heritage Sites list

The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) has announced its third group of 100 Geological Heritage Sites in Portugal, including three sites in China: the Xianshuihe Fault in Sichuan Province, the Middle Jurassic Dinosaurs of Yunyang in Chongqing Municipality, and the Triassic Dabie Ultrahigh-pressure Metamorphic Belt in Anhui Province.

Their inclusion brings the total number of Chinese sites on the IUGS Geological Heritage Sites list to 13.

Geological heritage sites preserve records of Earth's 4.6-billion-year history and serve as irreplaceable resources for understanding the planet's geological evolution.

Of the three newly recognized sites, the Xianshuihe Fault was included in the tectonics category, highlighting its outstanding international scientific significance. Located in the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, the fault extends for approximately 400 kilometers. Its well-preserved fault-related landforms and traces of past earthquakes offer valuable insights into fault activity, crustal deformation and the processes shaping the Earth's surface.

A research team from a geological research institute affiliated with the China Geological Survey has conducted long-term studies of the fault. Their findings show that it is one of the world's most active intracontinental fault zones and an unusual fault system where long-term creep and stick-slip behavior coexist. This makes it a natural laboratory for studying earthquake processes within continental interiors and cascading geological hazards, providing an important scientific basis for earthquake prevention and disaster mitigation.